Commodities Giant News

The international ship-owning company Top Ships announced that its 50% subsidiaries which own M/T Holmby Hills and M/T Palm Springs entered into agreements to sell both vessels to unaffiliated third parties.According to the owner and operator of modern, fuel efficient "ECO" tanker vessels, the vessel sales are subject to customary closing conditions and are anticipated to be concluded during March 2020.The two MR2 tankers are owned by Evangelos Pistiolis-led Top Ships  in a 50-50 joint venture with Gunvor’s Clearlake Shipping.Depending on when the closing of the sales take place and on prevailing USD Swap rates at the time of closing…

Louis Dreyfus Company announced the surprise departures of its chief executive and head of finance on Tuesday, triggering another reshuffle at the commodities giant as it strives to recover from weak agricultural markets.The group said in a statement that Gonzalo Ramirez Martiarena had resigned as CEO after three years in the post to pursue other opportunities, and would be replaced with immediate effect by Ian McIntosh, previously chief strategy officer.British national McIntosh…

The striggling commodities giant Noble Group has secured a 120-day extension for its USD 400 million credit facility from June 20, 2017. According to Reuters, Noble Group, has over 100 vessels on charter, confirmed that its lenders had agreed to push back a repayment deadline by four months and said it continued to be in talks with potential investors about the sale of an interest in the company or parts of its business. The company had persuaded banks to extend the $2 billion credit line, due to be rolled over by the end of this week, but it was asked to find a strategic investor, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The company was one of Asia’s biggest commodity traders before it was hit by the downturn in the sector and questions about its accounting.

Commodities giant Glencore has started talks with Rio Tinto's largest shareholder, Aluminium Corp of China (Chinalco), as it seeks to pave the way for a possible merger in 2015, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. Reuters reported last month that Glencore could make a move for mining rival Rio Tinto to gain exposure to iron ore, citing banking sources. Bloomberg said in its report that Glencore had made a preliminary step towards securing the tie-up by holding discussions in recent weeks with Chinalco, which owns a 12.91 percent stake in Rio Tinto, according to Reuters data.

When BG Group Plc announced last week it was shifting the headquarters of its oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading operation to Singapore from Britain, it said the aim was to get closer to its customers. Analysts and consultants agreed that the growing importance of Japanese and Korean utilities in the LNG market meant the move would have clear logistical and commercial benefits. But they also said another motivation was likely at play: tax. "Tax is always a factor," said Bob Piller, a Swiss-based energy trading consultant who previously worked for commodities giant Vitol.

Cargill U.S.-based commodities giant Cargill Inc. has told South Africa it plans to avoid trading there from mid-December to mid-January because of worries over the country's preparations for the millennium bug, according to press reports. The group's South African subsidiary reportedly sent a letter to the Department of Agriculture in Pretoria, pointing to a "worst-case" assessment by a U.S. computer consultancy analyzing the risks of the bug. "We plan to avoid entering into or executing trades in maize, oilseeds, wheat or any other commodity in the period December 15 to January 15," the letter said. According to the letter, U.S. consultancy Gartner Group puts South Africa in a high-risk category for the bug…